Twenty years of world travel in one blog

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In The Beginning

I think it is a genetic trait for me – to travel that is. I was born to two parents who moved half way around the world in the 1950’s to start a new life in America. As I grew up, I would hear stories of my father and his travels around the globe. His first career, which lasted most of his adult life, was in the travel business and so as a young child I did a lot of travel; most of which was sitting in relatives homes in Ireland. I vividly remember spending a couple of nights in Copenhagen at the age of 8 – I still get shivers up my spine when I hear the church bells chime in European cities. I think it was at that moment I fell in love with travel even though I had no idea what that really meant.

Fast-forward forty-five years and many trips later and it all seems crystal clear to me now. My first trip as an adult was to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta to be exact. It was new and exciting and a total cultural shift. I went with a group including my then boyfriend who is now my husband and I loved every minute. Most of my female friends that had gone thought Mexico was too “developing” to return to but I returned to Mexico many times in my twenties and thoroughly enjoyed meeting the local people and getting a feel for their culture and traditions.

Then marriage and children moved along and vacations seemed to be a bit more family oriented – except for the a trip through the Panama Canal – we stuck to lake vacations, camping and short hops with toddlers and babies in tow. Eventually those babies turned into children and Disney World became the focus. It was on this particular trip to Disney World that entire new world of travel opened up to us. On this trip, we were offered too much money to turn down per person for our seats. Delta Airlines put us up in a suite in Atlanta, all expenses paid for the night and we were able to choose any departing flight the next day for Disney World. Our older one had a few tears, which were quickly forgotten once she was cavorting in the pool and we are all playing on the beach at Disney World by noon the next day.

We took the credits offered and the following year spent 17 days touring France and Italy. That was the beginning….